Gaza hopes in ruins a year after pullout began

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip, Aug 11: As Palestinian farmer Hassan Abdel-Dayem looks across his fields to the rubble of former Jewish settlements, he sees an Israeli armoured vehicle trundling past

A year ago, optimism soared in the Gaza Strip as Israel began its withdrawal of Jewish settlers after 38 years of occupation. Now, depression has rarely been deeper.

Hopes that Gaza could become a shining example of a future Palestinian state have been sunk by renewed violence with Israel as well as internal squabbles that set factions on the brink of war in the poor territory of 1.4 million people.

''How close are we to a state? It is impossible,'' said Abdel-Dayem as he kneeled to work in his eggplant plot beside his wife and daughter. ''Nothing changed except for the worse.'' On August. 15, 2005 the residents of Beit Lahiya cheered as Israel began the evacuation of Jewish settlers from nearby Dugit and Elei Sinai. On September. 12, the withdrawal was completed from a seaside strip that Israel captured in the 1967 war.

Progress after the pullout was never as quick as Palestinians hoped. It took months to agree with Israel on opening a foot crossing to Egypt, although it was still the first time Palestinians had free access to the outside world.

But everything started to get more difficult when Hamas Islamists, lifted by their anti-corruption credentials as well as their fight against Israel, beat moderate President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement in January parliamentary elections.

Western countries imposed an aid embargo, joining Israel in a call on Hamas to recognise the Jewish state's right to exist, renounce violence and accept past peace deals. Hamas refused.

Meanwhile, clashes grew more frequent.

SOLDIER ABDUCTED

It became open war when Hamas's armed wing and two other factions captured a soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25 and demanded a prisoner exchange. Troops went back into Gaza, while militants fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli towns.

The offensive has continued in the shadow of the war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. More than 170 people have been killed in Gaza, about half of them civilians, while roads, bridges, Hamas government offices and a power plant have been bombed. ''We left Gaza to leave, not to return,'' said Israeli army spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal. ''As soon as rocket fire stops and the abducted soldier is returned, the Palestinians can and should go back to forging their destiny. It is up to the Palestinian leadership, the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people.'' Although it was the militant raid and rocket fire that triggered the offensive, most Palestinians still blame the Israelis and say Gaza never had a real chance.

''It was a continuation of the occupation in other forms,'' said Hamdi Shaqoura of the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights. ''Israel threw dust in the eyes.'' The situation in Gaza, however, had been going downhill long before Israel sent the troops back. In fact, the fight against Israel has restored relative unity among armed factions that had been on the brink of civil war.

After taking over the government, Hamas was caught in a bitter power struggle with Abbas's Fatah, which seeks a state in just Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem rather than fighting to destroy Israel entirely.

The groups fought sporadic clashes while there were several assassination attempts on key leaders. Kidnappings, killings and other crimes also surged. Over 100 people have been killed in internal violence so far this year.

''You cannot have an economic prosperity when there is no political and security stability,'' said Khaled Othman, who used to import and export fruit and vegetables through Israel.

FAILURE Nothing portrays the failure to build on the Gaza withdrawal better than the fate of the former settlements.

Greenhouses, left by settlers under a deal with international donors, were largely plundered for scrap rather than serving as the basis for a thriving vegetable export industry similar to the one the settlers ran.

Exporters were, in any case, unable to send out goods through crossings that Israel said it closed in fear of attacks.

Some of the former settlements now house training camps for militants. Others are used for firing rockets into Israel, which has declared them no-go zones and warned that anyone who enters could be shot.

The bloodshed has only served to strengthen the hand of the militant groups while the ongoing aid embargo has brought the Palestinian Authority closer to collapse and is likely to continue until Hamas softens its stand or falls from power.

The differences between Hamas and President Abbas also make it difficult to see any imminent political deal that could bring comfort to Gaza even if the fighting stopped.

''A unified Palestinian political agenda is still absent,'' said political analyst Hani Habib. ''I personally do not see a dramatic change in the near future unless it is for the worse.''

REUTERS